Uranium news from Saskatchewan and elsewhere for July 19 to 25, 2014

High grades and wide intervals at relatively shallow depths continue to characterize Fission Uranium’s (TSXV:FCU) Patterson Lake South. Of eight holes released July 21, all showed mineralization, six substantially. Three standout assays boasted 3.78% U3O8 over 49 metres, 3.96% over 40 metres and 5.34% over 25.5 metres. The entire octet came from R780E, the middle and largest of five zones along a 2.24-kilometre potential strike that remains open to the east and west. Some highlights include:

PLS14-199, along with the previously released PLS14-189 which included 1.93% over 15 metres, sits on the eastern edge of R780E. Their assays prompted Fission to suggest the possibility of closing a 75-metre gap between R780E and R1155E to the east. R780E currently has a strike length of about 855 metres.

While laboratory boffins analyze the final two dozen holes from last winter’s 92, Fission’s field crew continues with a 63-hole, 20,330-metre summer campaign. About 30% of the program will be exploration. But the priority is to delineate a maiden resource scheduled for December.

Ur-Energy reports 8.81 million pounds eU3O8 M&I at Shirley Basin

Ur-Energy TSX:URE released a resource estimate on July 22 for what it calls a “well-defined, high-grade uranium roll front deposit at very favourable production depths.” In the vicinity of the company’s Lost Creek in-situ recovery operation, the Wyoming property came with Ur-Energy’s discount acquisition of Pathfinder Mines. The resource was broken down into two areas:

The estimate was based on approximately 3,200 historic holes totalling about 366,000 metres sunk before 1992 and on Ur-Energy’s confirmation drilling that finished last May. Resources start at an average depth of about 95 metres. The company stated it’s “moving at a rapid pace to advance the data collection programs necessary to support amendment applications to the existing mining permits and licences.”

The previous week Ur-Energy announced its Lost Creek plant recovered 116,707 pounds U3O8 in Q2. The company set its Q3 production target at 200,000 pounds.

Two new properties expand Lakeland Resources’ Basin-area portfolio

Two more acquisitions announced July 21 solidify Lakeland Resources’ (TSXV:LK) position as one of the largest landholders in and around the Athabasca Basin. Both projects benefit from previous exploration but show greater potential with more recent methodology.

The 20,218-hectare Newnham Lake property sits contiguous to Lakeland’s Karen Lake project around the Basin’s northeastern rim. Depth to the basement rock is expected to be from zero to around 100 metres, the company stated.

Newnham Lake covers parts of a roughly 25-kilometre-long folded and faulted conductive trend that attracted over 140 drill holes by 1984. But, following the understanding of the time, most holes stopped less than 25 metres past the sub-Athabasca unconformity. More recent knowledge of the Basin’s basement-hosted unconformity-style deposits brings new potential to the project.

Previous work did show extensive alteration and anomalous geochemistry along with highly anomalous uranium, nickel and other pathfinders. Several targets remain to be tested.

When we do see that price turnaround that’s been forecast for 2015, we expect to see more joint venture interest in our projects. There’s not a whole hell of a lot of ground left to be had.—Jonathan Armes, president/CEO of Lakeland Resources

Southeast of Newnham and just beyond the Basin, the approximately 21,000-hectare Hatchet Lake sits east of Lakeland’s Fond du Lac property. Although Hatchet covers part of an interpreted extension of the same basement graphitic meta-sedimentary basin, it’s seen little exploration.

As uranium continues to struggle near record-low prices Lakeland president/CEO Jonathan Armes sees this as “a good time to get value for money, advance projects to the drill-ready stage and ideally secure partners to take them to the next level.”

“When we do see that price turnaround that’s been forecast for 2015, we expect to see more joint venture interest in our projects,” he adds. “There’s not a whole hell of a lot of ground left to be had. When companies come back to the table, they’re going to have to partner up. That’s the kind of opportunity we’ll be looking for.”

Helping evaluate the properties are Lakeland advisers with long experience in the Basin. Richard Kusmirski is a veteran of Cameco Corp TSX:CCO and JNR Resources, which became a Denison Mines TSX:DML acquisition. John Gingerich’s background includes Noranda and Eldorado Nuclear, a predecessor of Cameco. They’re working with a new generation of geos from Dahrouge Geological Consulting that includes Lakeland director Neil McCallum.

“They’re compiling all the historic data and reinterpreting it in view of what we know today,” Armes says. “It’s an interesting dynamic to see the guys, old and young, bantering about. It brings new ideas on how to approach things.”

Lakeland may earn a 100% interest in Newnham Lake by paying $100,000 and issuing 2.5 million shares over two years. The vendor retains a 2.5% gross overriding royalty with a 1% buyback provision. Hatchet Lake goes for $13,500, 500,000 shares and a 2.5% GORR, again with a 1% buyback.

The company remains cashed up with approximately $2.5 million in the till, Armes points out. “In the meantime we’ll have some exploration news coming this summer.”

With several projects untested by modern exploration, Lakeland’s 19-property portfolio now totals over 180,000 hectares.

Uranium still struggles near record-low prices but Lakeland Resources TSXV:LK sees this as an opportune time to pick up additional properties. Two new acquisitions announced July 21 solidify the company’s position as one of the largest landholders in and around Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. Both projects benefit from previous exploration but show greater potential with more recent methodology.

The 20,218-hectare Newnham Lake property sits contiguous to Lakeland’s Karen Lake project around the Basin’s northeastern rim. Depth to the basement rock is expected to be from zero to around 100 metres, the company stated.

Newnham Lake covers parts of a roughly 25-kilometre-long folded and faulted conductive trend that attracted over 140 drill holes by 1984. But, following the understanding of the time, most holes stopped less than 25 metres past the sub-Athabasca unconformity. More recent knowledge of the Basin’s basement-hosted unconformity-style deposits brings a new perspective to the project.

Previous work did show extensive alteration and anomalous geochemistry along with highly anomalous uranium, nickel and other pathfinders. Several targets remain to be tested.

They’re compiling all the historic data and reinterpreting it in view of what we know today. It’s an interesting dynamic to see the guys, old and young, bantering about. It brings new ideas on how to approach things.—Jonathan Armes, president/CEO of Lakeland Resources

Southeast of Newnham and just beyond the Basin, the approximately 21,000-hectare Hatchet Lake sits east of Lakeland’s Fond du Lac property. Although Hatchet covers part of an interpreted extension of the same basement graphitic meta-sedimentary basin, it’s seen little exploration.

Lakeland president/CEO Jonathan Armes sees this as “a good time to get value for money, advance projects to the drill-ready stage and ideally secure partners to take them to the next level.”

“When we do see that price turnaround that’s been forecast for 2015, we expect to see more joint venture interest in our projects,” he adds. “There’s not a whole hell of a lot of ground left to be had. When companies come back to the table, they’re going to have to partner up. That’s the kind of opportunity we’ll be looking for.”

Helping evaluate the properties are Lakeland advisers with long experience in the Basin. Richard Kusmirski is a veteran of Cameco Corp TSX:CCO and JNR Resources, which became a Denison Mines TSX:DML acquisition. John Gingerich’s background includes Noranda and Eldorado Nuclear, a predecessor of Cameco. They’re working with a new generation of geos from Dahrouge Geological Consulting that includes Lakeland director Neil McCallum.

“They’re compiling all the historic data and reinterpreting it in view of what we know today,” Armes says. “It’s an interesting dynamic to see the guys, old and young, bantering about. It brings new ideas on how to approach things.”

Lakeland may earn a 100% interest in Newnham Lake by paying $100,000 and issuing 2.5 million shares over two years. The vendor retains a 2.5% gross overriding royalty with a 1% buyback provision. Hatchet Lake goes for $13,500, 500,000 shares and a 2.5% GORR, again with a 1% buyback.

The company remains cashed up with approximately $2.5 million in the till, Armes points out. “In the meantime we’ll have some exploration news coming this summer.”

Uranium news from Saskatchewan and elsewhere for July 12 to 18, 2014

Still enthusiastically proving that high grades can come from shallow depths, Fission Uranium TSXV:FCU released more assays from winter drilling on July 14. Six infill holes from the central portion of R780E, the middle and largest of five zones, complemented the previous week’s batch from the zone’s eastern area. An additional hole from R1155E proved less impressive but provided the strongest results so far from that zone.

With five barges afloat over Patterson Lake South, Fission Uranium has another season to drill prior to releasing a December resource.

0.23% over 11 metres, starting at 131.5 metres

0.54% over 18 metres, starting at 168 metres

(including 1.62% over 4.5 metres)

0.6% over 10 metres, starting at 224 metres

Hole PLS14-181

0.46% over 27.5 metres, starting at 118 metres

(including 1% over 9 metres)

6.01% over 17.5 metres, starting at 148 metres

(including 23.53% over 4 metres)

Hole PLS14-183

0.14% over 18 metres, starting at 109 metres

0.21% over 10.5 metres, starting at 147 metres

0.66% over 13.5 metres, starting at 176.5 metres

(including 1.22% over 5.5 metres)

1.63% over 3.5 metres, starting at 193.5 metres

1.1% over 6.5 metres, starting at 213 metres

0.48% over 6 metres, starting at 244 metres

(including 1.11% over 2 metres)

Hole PLS14-184

2.02% over 14.5 metres, starting at 110.5 metres

(including 8.31% over 2 metres)

7.66% over 2 metres, starting at 136 metres

1.65% over 19 metres, starting at 158.5 metres

(including 4.45% over 3.5 metres)

Hole PLS14-189

1.93% over 15 metres, starting at 262.5 metres

0.44% over 13 metres, starting at 281 metres

(including 1.03% over 4.5 metres)

Hole PLS14-191

0.22% over 6.5 metres, starting at 99 metres

0.62% over 9 metres, starting at 122 metres

(including 1.7% over 2.5 metres)

1% over 3.5 metres, starting at 152.5 metres

On the R1155E zone, the better results from PLS14-191 showed:

0.2% over 8 metres, starting at 197.5 metres

(including 1.28% over 0.5 metres)

0.33% over 3.5 metres, starting at 211 metres

0.1% over 5.5 metres, starting at 359 metres

True widths weren’t provided. Fission Uranium stated PLS14-191 “opens up the potential to discover increased amounts and higher grades of mineralization from this area, including further to the south and within the 75-metre gap separating R780E and R1155E.” The 31,039-hectare project’s 2.24-kilometre potential strike remains open to the east and west.

Still to come are assays for 32 holes from last winter’s 92-hole program. Now underway is a 63-hole, 20,330-metre campaign worth $12 million to focus on R780E. That would bring the project’s total to about 263 holes totalling around 83,500 metres. December’s the deadline for the maiden resource.

Cigar Lake suspended as Cameco encounters freezing failure

Progress continues on the technological challenge of extracting Cigar Lake’s uranium deposit—but not “as quickly as expected,” Cameco Corp TSX:CCO conceded July 16. As a result production has been suspended to allow some areas of the mine to freeze more thoroughly. In an innovative method to prevent flooding “where the water-saturated Athabasca sandstone meets the underlying basement rocks,” the company injects and freezes a brine solution around the rock body. Water jet boring then extracts the ore. (Watch a video here.) Now Cameco has stopped operations to allow “additional freezing.”

Noting that the McClean Lake mill, 70 kilometres away, hasn’t started processing Cigar Lake feed, the suspension “will allow more continuous production at the mine once the mill is operational.” Cameco anticipates a couple of months’ delay that will affect 2014 production, which was originally estimated at 770 to 1,100 tonnes of uranium concentrate. The long-term annual target of 18 million pounds U3O8 by 2018 remains unaffected.

The company will provide another update during its July 31 Q2 discussion.

Flooding in 2006 and 2008 had already set back development at the eastside Athabasca Basin mine, which began construction in 2005. The first ore shipment finally left Cigar Lake in March. McClean Lake was scheduled to begin processing last quarter, following modifications to the leaching circuit.

Exploration in two Saskatchewan plays would come together under one entity should a merger go through between Athabasca Nuclear TSXV:ASC and Strike Graphite TSXV:SRK. The companies announced that intention on July 15, subject to conditions and approvals. Athabasca Nuclear holds a number of uranium properties including its Preston Lake flagship, which the company operates for the four-company Western Athabasca Syndicate. Strike has received conditional TSXV approval for its 80% acquisition of two properties in the Sask Craton that are contiguous to the Pikoo diamond discovery made last November by North Arrow Minerals TSXV:NAR.

The deal would exchange one Athabasca Nuclear share for each Strike share, with a similar swap of options and warrants. Strike would then become a wholly owned subsidiary of Athabasca Nuclear but presumably would not be called Nuclear Strike. Athabasca Nuclear would be held 73.9% by its current shareholders and 26.1% by Strike shareholders. Athabasca Nuclear’s officers and BOD would remain unchanged, except for the board addition of Blair Way, now a Strike director.

Among the deal’s conditions is two-thirds approval by Strike shareholders. The companies hope to consummate by September 20.

Uranium news from Saskatchewan and elsewhere for June 28 to July 11, 2014

The first six summer holes at the Rook 1 project’s Arrow zone have more than doubled the potential strike, NexGen Energy TSXV:NXE stated July 7. Radiometric measurements extended the 215 metres determined by eight winter holes to a potential 470-metre strike open in all directions.

Some of the highlights include hole RK-14-37, which totalled a composite 8.1 metres of “off-scale” radioactivity straining the spectrometer’s limit of 9,999 counts per second. The drill hit 17 anomalous intercepts totalling a composite 78.05 metres of mineralization within a 227.8-metre section beginning at 378 metres in downhole depth.

RK-14-34 found 29 intercepts totalling a composite 100.6 metres of mineralization within a 627.9-metre section that started at 221.4 metres in depth.

RK-14-31 found 35 intercepts totalling 125.8 metres of mineralization within a 430.7-metre section beginning at 221.4 metres in depth.

True widths weren’t provided. All six Arrow holes, which totalled 4,324 metres, showed visible mineralization. One hole is still in progress.

About 200 metres away, the Dagger area took in four holes totalling 1,349 metres without showing anomalous radioactivity. In addition to further Arrow drilling, “preparations have been made for regional drilling to continue at Area K (Dennis Lake),” the company stated.

Still to come are assays for 39 holes from the 92-hole winter campaign. One week before unloading this latest batch of results, the company announced a 20,330-metre, 63-hole summer program that would eat $12 million of this year’s $28-million budget. As was the case last winter, most of the drilling will focus on delineation for a December resource.

Recently compiled data shows potential for a regional hydrothermal system on Lakeland Resources’ (TSXV:LK) Star uranium property, adjacently north of the company’s Gibbon’s Creek joint venture. That’s the verdict for samples taken last year, which assayed for gold, platinum group elements and rare earth elements, as well as uranium.

The Star property covers “a quasi-circular basement uplift,” a feature considered “an ideal location for the development of uranium occurrences associated with the unconformity or sub-unconformity of the Athabasca Basin,” the company stated July 8.

The assays further indicate potential for a regional hydrothermal system as “demonstrated by intense alteration associated with historic uranium mineralization within the Gibbons Creek property located immediately to the south,” Lakeland stated. “Within the Athabasca Basin, there are a number of projects where highly anomalous precious metals and/or rare earth elements occur in spatial relation to uranium deposits and/or mineralization. Examples of such mineralization include the Nicholson Bay and Fish Hook Bay uranium-gold-platinum group elements occurrences, and the MAW zone-Wheeler River occurrences.”

The Star project’s now slated for a near-term mapping and sampling program. Lakeland may earn a 100% interest in the property by paying $60,000 and issuing 600,000 shares over 12 months. The vendor retains the option of a 25% buyback for four times Lakeland’s exploration expenses.

The company began public trading just last month but GoviEx Uranium CSE:GXU has been advancing its Madaouela project in Niger since 2008. On July 2 the company announced contracts to complete an environmental and social impact assessment expected to “culminate the detailed feasibility study and environmental work already undertaken.”

As of March 2013 Madaouela’s seven deposits showed resources totalling 22.92 million pounds uranium oxide-equivalent (eU3O8) measured, 75.3 million pounds indicated and 24.1 million pounds inferred. Included are probable reserves of 25,300 tonnes.

Five of the deposits “have been developed to pre-feasibility level of confidence,” the company states.

The July 2 announcement quoted GoviEx chief executive Daniel Major, “Through the use of proprietary technologies never before used in Niger, our project team has presented a commercially viable project and one that seeks to limit its impact on the environment with a particular focus on limitation of dust, reduction in water usage and commercialization of the molybdenum byproduct resource.”

Executive chairman Govind Friedland’s bio lists a number of accomplishments even after he took part in the 1996 Voisey’s Bay discovery. Friedland went on to graduate from the Colorado School of Mines, provided business development services to Ivanhoe Mines and Ivanhoe Energy, and co-founded Ivanhoe Industries. Yes, he’s the son of that Friedland.

Two Niger mines operated by AREVA produce 7.5% of global supply, ranking the country as the world’s fourth-largest producer. While the government supports mining, the industry has been plagued by terrorist kidnappings and a bombing.

Fission 3.0, Azincourt report scintillometer results from PLN

One of four summer holes at Patterson Lake North shows anomalous radioactivity, JV partners Fission 3.0 TSXV:FUU and Azincourt Uranium TSXV:AAZ reported July 7. Two intercepts of 0.5 metres and 7.5 metres (not true widths) showed variable readings up to 1,450 counts per second on a hand-held scintillometer. Assays are pending.

The hole, PLN14-019, “is still in progress at 258 metres, although no further intervals of mineralization are expected,” the companies stated. The three other holes “intersected anomalous hydrothermal clay altered intervals, associated with structurally disturbed sections. This further highlights the partners’ confidence of the prospectivity and potential of the A1 conductor to host high-grade uranium mineralization.”

This summer’s five-hole program will total about 1,600 metres. Fission 3.0 acts as operator on the 27,408-hectare property, where Azincourt has a 50% earn-in.

Last April the companies reported that winter drilling failed to find radioactivity but did “confirm the high prospectivity of the target areas.”

In late May Azincourt and Macusani Yellowcake TSXV:YEL stated they would extend to June 15 a letter of intent to consolidate their Peruvian assets. That date passed without further announcement. (Update: The companies announced a definitive agreement on July 14.)

Those properties surround a project held by Fission 3.0, which holds interests in nine others in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Along with JV partner Brades Resource TSXV:BRA, Fission 3.0 announced VTEM results from their Clearwater West project in May.

Recently compiled data shows potential for a regional hydrothermal system on Lakeland Resources’ (TSXV:LK) Star uranium property, adjacently north of the company’s Gibbon’s Creek joint venture. That’s the verdict for samples taken last year, which assayed for gold, platinum group elements and rare earth elements, as well as uranium.

The Star property covers “a quasi-circular basement uplift,” a feature considered “an ideal location for the development of uranium occurrences associated with the unconformity or sub-unconformity of the Athabasca Basin,” according to Lakeland’s July 8 statement.

The assays further indicate potential for a regional hydrothermal system as “demonstrated by intense alteration associated with historic uranium mineralization within the Gibbons Creek property located immediately to the south,” Lakeland stated. “Within the Athabasca Basin, there are a number of projects where highly anomalous precious metals and/or rare earth elements occur in spatial relation to uranium deposits and/or mineralization. Examples of such mineralization include the Nicholson Bay and Fish Hook Bay uranium-gold-platinum group elements occurrences, and the MAW zone-Wheeler River occurrences.”

The Star project’s now slated for a near-term mapping and sampling program. Lakeland may earn a 100% interest in the property by paying $60,000 and issuing 600,000 shares over 12 months. The vendor retains the option of a 25% buyback for four times Lakeland’s exploration expenses.